SBuzek

Since you are early in your journey the best thing to do is pick a steel and stay with it until you can achive it's full potential.1084 is a good steel and I use it alot and it is really pretty forgiving when heattreating.1095 and O-1 are much harder to H/T correctly,they have to be held at temp and quenched very quickly. Stan

Looks like cracks,maybe overheated before quench,or maybe you quenched in water and it cracked. Stan

Good looking knife Mike Stan

Nice job.I really like the patterns you get with cable and chain. Stan

Unless you have a Heat treaing kiln you would be best to send it out.Texas knifemaker supply will o a good job on it. Stan

I would build a no weld grinder with step pulleys you will be much happier and it will ls you a long time. Stan

Beautiful Job Dave the detail is great Stan

My first suggestion is to get some satinite on that wool.What yu have there is very dangerous! The uncoated wool when heated will give off fibers that will get in you lungs and do alot of damage.After coating with satinite you can also put on a coat of ITC 100 and that will make your forge a lot hotter. Alot of good tips on welding cable.Have fun but be safe,we want you doing this for a while. Stan

October would be fine,be allittle cooler to run the forge.Just give me a holler. Stan

Henry I also have a forge and do forged knives. I make some cable damascus and getting ready to try some random pattern damascus. Worked a long time in SS and then branching out ito forged knives.If you want to play with fire the invite is always on. Stan

I like it ,but Im a softy for cable. Stan

Welcome Henry There are alot of makers in the Houston area. Don't know of any down your way.I'm about 1-1/2 hours from you on the NW side out in waller.If your ever out this way give me a holler. Stan

After forging,anneal and then drawfile and sandpaper will work.I use a beltgrinder and then hand sand. Stan

I do about 80% of handle fitup before glueing,then after glueup do a litle grinding and let it cool and do alot with files and sandpaper. Stan

Really nice Stuart, I really like your hawks San

I forge welded a piece of 3/4" cable to day and wound up with a bar 1/4"X3/4"X15" in length.My question is how do I get a wider bar, should I cut and stack and weld it together again and go from there or is there a better way. Thanks Stan

Sam I have a evenheat kiln and wrap in SS fiol and then plat quench betwenn 2-2"X12X12" aluminum plates.It is the 14" model somabout 13" on max length. Stan

Sam Texas knife supply can do the HT or peters in Pa. Or if you don't mind back yard mail it to me and I will run it with my next batch of 154 and send it back to you. Shoot mean e-mail if your interested Stan

Move the water bucket away from the anvil. Today I was forging out a blade from some 1084 and since I really new at forging this one was comeing out pretty nice for a change,but during one of my heats when coming out of the forge I lost my grip on the blade and it went straight into the water bucket. Went ahead and kept on forging it out and theen did some cleanup on the grinder. about the first 1-1/2" of the tip was cracked in about 6 places.:mad: OHH well try another one. Stan

very nice Stan

Thanks for the reply guys kinda what I figured just wanted to make sure.Also I need to mix me a batch of superquench just haven't gotten a round to it. Stan

do Hi all my name is Stanley and have been lurking here for a while an just getting into forging. I have been doing sttock removal for about 5 years. I just forged out my first spike hawk and quenched in brine but now do I need to temper or is the low carbon stable enough as is,If I need to temper at what temps. Thanks Stan

Hello everyone,my name is Stan and I am a knife addict.Benn making stock removal knives for about 5 years and just getting into forging so bear with me as I learn. Stan